When Love Becomes a Cage (Melanie) novel Chapter 52

One night, we barely caught a wink of sleep.

Jade's design was brilliant, thoughtful, and eco-friendly to boot. But somewhere along the line, a minor misstep led to a gaping flaw in the final design. It wasn't until I combed through everything from the beginning that I spotted the root of the problem. "Look here. You didn't make this change, did you? The measurement is off by an inch."

Jade pushed up her glasses, squinting at the screen before slamming her hand on the desk.

"No way. Who messed with my design? No wonder the numbers were all over the place! Somebody must've fiddled with the file when I wasn't looking. I thought I'd accidentally deleted the original file!"

I had suspected as much but hadn't said anything until then.

With no time to figure out who messed up, Jade got straight to fixing the data, and I was there to help her out.

After a few hours of hard work, we finally got all the files in order as dawn broke.

With a hoarse voice, Jade hugged me tight. "Melanie, I'd be toast without you. You saved my ass out of the mess. You are my savior!"

"Don’t be silly. We’re best friends." I patted her head, only to have my hand swatted away as she grimaced, her throat too sore to even speak.

Running on no sleep and dealing with a headache, I decided to call in sick.

Lately, it felt like Clyde deliberately kept me from taking on more at the company. The Design Department had been unusually quiet.

Jade seemed worse off than I was, barely able to stand, yet she couldn't miss the bidding meeting.

After a brief discussion, she let me, her guardian angel, take her place. "Since you've taken the day off, give me a hand."

I encouraged her. "With your brains, we've got this in the bag."

She was the lead designer, and no one else was as familiar with the project. She was worried about potential oversights. Her raspy voice, coupled with her powerhouse demeanor, was quite the mismatch. After some thought, I felt confident enough in my understanding of the project to start preparing.

But arriving at the bidding meeting, I saw Vinson and Clyde with their teams. I instinctively ducked my head, and of course, Jade saw them, too, heaving a heavy sigh.

As the Patterson Group's Design Director, stepping in for Jade would cause a stir. I could feel one particularly icy stare from Clyde.

Jade patted my shoulder, her voice harsh, "I'll go."